


I'm Still Human

by DS_Blxck



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Bullying, Cyber-conversions, Cybermen Invasion, Gen, High School, the Doctor saves everyone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-01-18 00:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12377100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DS_Blxck/pseuds/DS_Blxck
Summary: High school is not only a place for learning. It is also a place for socialization, helping each other and making new friends. For sixteen year-old Lia Peters, it was not the case. For her, going to school meant to be humiliated and harassed by people whom she once considered her friends. When she thought she couldn't take it anymore, her world got turned upside down... for the worst.ON-HIATUS





	1. Prologue

_“Yes, I’m shy. Yes, I’m that typical girl who likes to read during breaks because I’m socially awkward and I have trouble making friends. But they’re not reasons to stab me like that.”_

****

The wind softly blew through her hair, tangling it into loose knots. Sitting on a big rock, she was staring at the placid lake and the round green mountains, lost in her thoughts. She was deeply enjoying the quiet and peaceful atmosphere of her grandparents’ country house, a vast contrast of the typical chaos which was city life. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air and savoring the spicy scent of the surrounding pine trees. 

The soft ‘pat pat’ of a pair of approaching footsteps snapped her out of her musings. Turning around, she spotted her grandmother walking down the narrow stone stairs which connected the house to the small private beach with a bowl in her hands. 

“Are you alright, my dear?” she asked her granddaughter. 

The young girl’s lips pulled into a small smile. 

“I’m fine, Grandma, thanks”, she replied.

“Are you sure? You were all depressed when you arrived...”

A nod was all the older woman got as an answer. 

“Are those cookies?” the girl asked, changing the subject. 

Her grandmother smiled wide and handed her the bowl.

“Chocolate chip cookies, your favourite”, she chuckled. 

“Thanks”, her granddaughter smiled. 

The older woman sat down on the patch of light brown sand beside the large rock and turned towards her granddaughter, her face kind, but stern. 

“Now tell me what’s troubling you, sweetheart. Is it those girls at that school of yours again?”

The young girl sighed and hung her head in shame.

“Yes…” she muttered. 

“Oh, I see… I’m so sorry to hear that!”

The girl just nodded absently. Her grandmother looked at her with a sad expression. Having been bullied too as a teenager, she understood what her granddaughter was going through. She passed an arm around her smaller shoulders and rubbed her arm in a soothing way. 

“I don’t understand why they’re doing this!” the teenager continued, her voice shaking with emotion. “I mean, they were all my friends at one point and they just… turned against me! And I don’t know why! Is there something wrong with me for which everyone hates me?”

She was crying openly at that point, leaning on her grandmother’s shoulder for support. The older woman embraced her tightly.

“Shh”, she cooed softly. 

She let her cry, knowing that she had to let her feelings out, feelings that she kept bottled up in herself for too long. 

“There’s nothing wrong with you, sweetheart!” her grandmother whispered. “You see, sometimes people don’t understand what’s different from them. They find it… unnatural, scary even, and that makes them suspicious. They don’t know how to approach people who they consider to be different.”

Her granddaughter nodded. She had stopped crying, but tears were still streaming down her cheeks. A soft rumbling sound was heard from above, making the older woman look up. She frowned as a small streak of light cut the bright blue sky from one end to the other, but deciding it was just an airplane, she shrugged and returned to comforting her granddaughter. 

****

The sun was slowly setting behind the mountains when the two women went back inside. The grandfather was glued to the TV, which was broadcasting some news, while the mother was cooking in the kitchen. 

“Where’s Dad?” the young girl asked her mother as she didn’t see him anywhere in the house. 

“I sent him out for some bread!” her mother shouted over the sound of the kitchen fan. “He’ll be home any minute now!”

Right on cue, the front door opened and a middle-aged man entered, carrying a bag full of groceries. His short brown hair was dishevelled and he looked like he had just ran a marathon. The grandmother jumped at the mere sight of him.

“Son!” she exclaimed. “Are you alright?” 

The girl’s father looked at her and slowly shook his head.

“You’re not going to believe me when I’ll tell you”, he said. 

At that moment, the grandfather’s voice was heard from the living room.

“Guys, you got to see this!” he exclaimed. 

The entire family rushed into the living room and instantly looked upon the TV. The news channel was showing a live footage of a crash site where military activity was buzzing. On the bottom, the following words were could be read: “MASSIVE ALIEN SHIP CRASH IN SOUTHEASTERN ONTARIO. APPROXIMATELY 159 KILLED AND 1 083 INJURED.” 

_“A massive alien ship has crashed alarmingly close to Toronto, Ontario, killing 38 people and injuring around a hundred”_ , the reporter was saying. _“For reasons we cannot explain, it seems to be buried deeply underground and even the crater created is much smaller than it’s supposed to be for an object of that size. We don’t know yet where it came from or for how long it has travelled in space. Both scientists and military officers are examining the perimeters and investigating that matter as we speak.”_

All eyes were wide as the reporter finished saying his report. 

“I heard it on the radio in the car”, the father added. “I rushed home as soon as I heard the news…”

“Look!” the teenager exclaimed. “It’s right where we live!”

All four adults in the room nodded grimly as they looked at each other. 

“You three will stay here until the situation has calmed down”, the grandmother said. “We’re far enough to be undisturbed and I’m certain that all the local schools will be closed for an undetermined time.” 

Everyone agreed as they slowly returned to their duties. They all had a feeling that difficult times will be awaiting them in the near future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? Love it? Hate it? Please let me know and I'll post the next chapter as soon as I can :)


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains some intense bullying scenes. If you don't feel comfortable reading them, feel free to skip over them.

_“I don’t want to look back at my past. I don’t want to remember all the pain, the sadness and the suffering. It hurt… it hurt more than it should have…”_

****

_Six months later_

“BEEP BEEP BEEP!” 

A hand shot out from underneath the thick covers and hit the night table a few times before successfully knocking the alarm clock off of it. 

“LIA! TIME FOR SCHOOL!” yelled a voice from downstairs. 

Groaning, Lia Peters kicked the covers off the bed and sat up. She checked the time: 6:45 AM. Oh, how she did not want to get up, especially on Mondays! 

She followed her usual morning routine, exchanged a few words with her mother and swallowed her breakfast before shrugging her leather jacket on and pulling on her boots. She instinctively shivered as the chilly October air hit her full-force as she walked towards the bus stop and she silently praised herself for wrapping a light scarf around her neck. 

****

Lia took a deep breath as she got off the bus, almost an hour later, and another as the big gray building which was her school appeared in her field of vision. She mentally braced herself for another harsh day as she slowly walked up the stairs and pushed the heavy glass door. Being lost in her raging thoughts, the young girl did not notice a nearby street lamp flickering on and off before permanently going dark. 

Lia made eye contact with no one as she put her jacket in her locker before continuing her way towards her classroom. She kept her gaze on the floor as all eyes turned towards her when she entered and followed her as she walked towards her desk. A roar of laughter shattered the tense silence in the room as a girl, who had stuck a leg out from beneath her desk, successfully made Lia trip over it and fall. 

“Loser!” someone shouted over the sudden commotion. 

“I told you I could make her fall”, the girl who had caused the fall snickered. “You owe me five dollars”, she added to her friend.

“Hey Peters!” yelled another student. “How’s the weather down there?”

Lia gingerly massaged her sore elbow as she stood up and grabbed her backpack. Without shooting anyone a look, she swung it over her shoulder and sat down at her desk. She opened her laptop computer and immersed herself into a novel. A crumpled paper landed on the keyboard, but Lia brushed it off without even reading it. Almost immediately, a hand landed on her shoulder, startling her. 

“Read it”, a cold voice said.

Lia slowly raised her eyes to meet the gaze of her former best friend, Lili Desrosiers. 

“I don’t want to read your paper”, Lia said softly. 

Lili’s eyes hardened as her nails dug painfully into Lia’s shoulder. She then quickly bent down and picked the crumpled paper up before throwing it into her victim’s face. 

“Read. It”, she hissed.

Lia sighed before grabbing the offending piece of paper. She unwillingly opened it and her eyes went wide at the message inside it. Faint snickers and whispering were heard in the background, but none of them were paid attention to. Tears blurred Lia’s vision and the poor girl had to bite her lip to prevent a sob from escaping her lips. 

“You see?” Lili smirked. “That’s what you are. That’s what you’ll always be. But you knew that already”, she added quickly before messing the girl’s hair up.

Oh yes, Lia knew that already. It was not the first time a thing like this happened to her; in fact, this was going on since three years now. She was constantly getting insults, mockeries and even threats via paper, text messages, social media or emails. No matter how many times she changed her email address or usernames, someone always managed to find her and the bullying started up again with renewed vigour.

As Lili finally returned to her desk after saying more insults and laughing, Lia concentrated once more on her story.

_“Stay strong”_ , she told herself. _“Christmas is in nine weeks…”_

**** 

A tall dark-skinned and black-haired girl entered Lia’s classroom during recess time. She didn’t have to look around for long before she spotted Lia at her desk, typing something on her keyboard. Grinning, she silently proceeded towards her and slammed the computer lid down. Lia got so spooked she fell out of her chair with a surprised cry, which earned a throaty laugh from the dark-skinned girl. Lia let out a relieved laugh as she saw who the “attacker” was. 

“Ashley!” she exclaimed. “You scared the heck out of me!”

Ashley laughed again before offering a hand, which Lia gladly took. 

“I’m sorry, best friend, but you should have seen your expression, it was priceless!” Ashley grinned. 

Lia smiled thinly and opened her computer to shut it down. Ashley noticed her friend’s blood-shot eyes and grew immediately concerned. 

“Is everything alright?” she asked in a low voice. 

“You know, the usual”, her friend shrugged.

Ashley bit her lip. 

“Do you want to go down to the cafeteria to grab a snack?” she asked. 

Lia’s normally dull eyes sparkled. 

“Sure thing!” she exclaimed. 

In the far end of the class, two girls started whispering among each other, occasionally glancing towards the two friends. Ashley grabbed Lia’s hand and started to pull her towards the door, but before they made it outside, Lili stepped in front of them and leaned threateningly close to the blond haired girl’s face and whispered something. 

“Leave her alone”, Ashley growled before pushing the bully away. 

“Don’t touch me, you freak”, Lili exclaimed in her high-pitched voice, shooting a dirty look at the dark-skinned girl. 

“Then _move_!” 

And without waiting for an answer, Ashley and Lia exited the classroom, to the latter’s great relief. 

“I swear I’m going to punch that girl and her gang one day!” Ashley muttered. 

“It’s not just them, it’s the whole class now…” Lia sighed. 

“What?! Since when?”

“Since the beginning of the year?”

Ashley stopped and grabbed her friend by the shoulders.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she exclaimed. 

“Because I didn’t think it was important”, Lia replied, her voice sounding tired and strangely monotone. “Four girls or twenty-five people, what’s the difference? No one understands anyways. Whenever I tell someone they just smile at me and tell me it’s going to be over soon. They just show pity and nothing else. I don’t need any pity! But you know what? I don’t even care anymore, I got used to it.”

The lack of emotion and the uttered words both alarmed Ashley. She loosened her grip but did not remove her hands from Lia’s shoulders.

“ _I_ care”, she said softly. “Nothing makes me sadder and angrier than seeing these bitches treat you like that. You worth a lot to me.”

Lia lips curled into a small smile and embraced her friend. 

“You know you can always confide in me, eh?” Ashley added, gladly returning the hug. 

“Yes…” Lia whispered. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome. Now come, let’s put some strength back into that body of yours.”

Lia chuckled and followed her friend through the hallways. The lights above flickered and both girls glanced up, annoyed. 

“They _really_ ought to do something with these lights”, Ashley grumbled. “This has been going on for _months_!”

“The same thing is going on in my house”, Lia said. “It’s even worse than here in school.”

“It’s happening everywhere in town. Hey, don’t you live close to that crater?”

“Yeah, I see it every time I’m going to school… Do you think this has to do with it?”

“What do you think? It started right after the crash, when we finally recovered power after two weeks…”

Lia shrugged. 

“Anyways, there’s nothing we can do about it”, Ashley added. “It will just continue to annoy us until someone decides to finally fix it.”

Silently, the two friends proceeded to the cafeteria, ignoring the continuous flickering of the neon white lights.

****

“Hey, did you hear the rumour?” Ashley asked in a mysterious tone which made Lia frown.

“What rumour?” came the question. 

“They say our construction workers are disappearing. Every day, one would go missing, never to be seen again.”

Contrarily from what other people would say, Ashley’s words were correct. The school’s basement has been undergoing renovations since the past winter but had to be stopped because of the severe power outage caused by the massive alien ship crash in April. The work had resumed in early August, but that’s when the workers started disappearing. It began with one man vanishing every second week, but soon, more men were taken on shorter time intervals. Each crew member was replaced by a new one, but they were also eventually gone missing. And when the workers were questioned, they were all talking about strange sightings like terrifying-looking instruments that seemed to appear out of nowhere and weird metal components. No matter how much they would insist that their spoken words were true, not a single soul seemed to believe them; on the contrary, they laughed at them and called them crazy.

The school wanted to stop the renovations, but the basement was nearly done. No harm was going to happen for the last week or so… or so they thought. 

Lia glanced at Ashley and let out a short whistle.

“That’s scary”, she said. “Do you think it’s true?”

“I don’t know”, Ashley replied. “I hope not…”

****

Lia was greeted by chaos when she stepped back in her classroom. Lili and her friends were talking loudly in a corner, the football gang were watching videos on a phone and laughing uproariously every few seconds, a boy was studying Mathematics by writing equations on the white board – which were promptly erased by another boy, resulting in a screaming match between the two – and the rest were just calmly sitting at their desk, on their phone or talking among themselves. Four pair of eyes locked on Lia’s tall frame as she hurried towards her neat desk. Lili detached herself from her three friends and planted herself right in front of the hapless girl, her hands on her hips.

“Well, well”, she sneered. “Look who finally decided to join us!”

“Leave me alone, Lili”, Lia murmured. 

“Oh, I don’t think so. You know, what your dear _friend_ has done to me earlier this recess was pretty… _humiliating_ and I’m not taking that well.

Anger coursed through Lia’s veins. She clenched both her fists and her teeth and glared down at Lili through half-narrowed eyes.

“You _deserved_ it!” she shouted.

The crunching sound of a fist connecting with a jaw followed by a cry of pain echoed throughout the room, reducing all other sounds into silence. All eyes went from Lili, who was livid, to Lia, who was leaning on her desk, green eyes were wide in astonishment and pain and a hand on her left cheek were a dark purple bruise was already starting to blossom. Then, painstakingly, she turned around to stare at Lili before she shook her head. Shooting her a hurt glance one more time, she bit her lower lip so hard she could taste blood and sat down. 

“That… was… _awesome_ ”, a boy gasped.

Shouts of acknowledgment soon followed his reaction and Lili found herself being applauded. She grinned like a madwoman and made a mock bow. 

Lia was trying very hard to ignore everything. Her cheek hurt like hell and the others’ joy just made everything worse. She wanted to go to the infirmary for a small bag of ice for the bruise, but in the same time she did not want to be seen as a weak girl who cannot handle pain. So she just sat there, trying to read but not able to concentrate on her otherwise interesting novel. 

****

Lunchtime was strangely uneventful. Apart from a few food bits thrown her way – which stopped after Ashley threw a hateful glare at the bullies – the other students left her relatively alone. _‘Perhaps they taught I already had my share for the day’_ , Lia had thought grimly. Ashley had gotten furious when she took sight of the ugly bluish-purple bruise. 

“This is outrageous!” she had shouted, attracting the attention of nearby teenagers. “She has gone over the limit!”

Lia had just nodded absently while her best friend had continued her rant. There was nothing she could do. She went once to the principal’s office but he didn’t do anything to stop both the bullying and the cyberbullying, which had gone worse after that inconclusive meeting. The sixteen year-old had not tried anything after, only tolerated the incessant humiliation. 

The bell rang, marking the end of the school day. Lia hastily got up, swung her heavy black schoolbag over her shoulder and ran out of the classroom. Someone shouted her a “See you tomorrow, purple-face!” but she did not bother to react. As fast as her long legs permitted her, she ran out of the building and towards the bus terminal. She only allowed herself to breathe when she was safely in her bus, her earphones stuffed in her ears. After taking a seat on one of the window seats in the back of the bus and dropping her bag on the floor, Lia pulled the hood of her jacket over her head and leaned on the scratched window. 

She was only a stop away from hers when a flash of silver caught her attention. Frowning, the teenager leaned forward to have a better look at it, but it had disappeared by then. She absently shrugged and pushed the stop button. She was going to investigate this tomorrow; for now, she had only one goal in mind: get home and go to bed in order to forget this horrible day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every kudo and review is highly appreciated! :)


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooh look at that! An update!

_“H.O.P.E. Hold on, pain ends.”_ –Unknown

****

For the following days, the harassment had gotten worse. Lili, after Monday’s punching incident, was encouraged by the fact that there were no consequences and started hitting her whenever she had the chance. Lia was enduring that too without any complaints. Ashley didn’t know about it, though she strongly suspected something much more serious was going on with her friend, and she would stop at nothing to find out what.

That Friday started like any other day of this past week. Lia got two other crumpled papers on her desk, which she only pretended to read, and a shove in the hallway on her way to class.   
Lia was currently chewing the end of her pencil, absently listening to her History teacher who was explaining the impacts of the Great Depression in Europe. The Second World War and its origins were always a topic that interested her, but she didn’t seem to be fully able to concentrate today. No matter how hard she tried to, she always seemed to be slipping back into daydreams. It’s true that she wasn’t able to sleep much lately… 

The bell rang, dismissing the class. 

“Don’t forget to read chapter 4!” the teacher called after the fleeing students. 

Lia packed her books into her bag and stood up to meet Ashley in the hallway.

“Lia, are you alright?” the teacher asked her as she passed by his desk. 

The teenager nodded and managed a small smile.

“Are you sure? You seem pretty tired…”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

The teacher nodded, not looking entirely convinced, but dismissed her anyways. Lia made her way out and smiled when she caught sight of her best friend.

“There you are!” Ashley exclaimed. 

“Sorry”, Lia replied. “The teacher was talking to me for a bit.”

“Oooh, the teacher’s favourite student got into trouble?”

Lia smacked her arm playfully at her teasing.

“Shut up!” she grinned.

Their undisturbed chatting didn’t last long. While they were walking down the stairs, one of Lia’s classmate forcefully pushed her out of the way, making her fall and tumble down the remaining steps. Ashley gasped and ran down to her while the other students snickered. 

“Are you okay?” she whispered, concerned. 

Lia groaned as she stood up and wiped her nose. Blood covered her hand and her sleeve when she removed it. 

“You’re bleeding!” Ashley shrieked. 

“Yeah, I noticed”, Lia sighed, dejected. 

Her friend glared at a smiling passersby before gently taking her by the arm. 

“Come, we need to get you to the infirmary”, she said softly. 

“I’m fine”, Lia resisted. 

“Don’t be silly, your nose could be broken!”

The two girls walked away – Lia was limping – both ignoring the whispers of the witnesses. 

****

The class was half-asleep as their Math teacher was writing examples on the board that early afternoon. Lia was pressing a cold compress on her face. Her nose was luckily not broken, but she would have a nasty bruise for weeks. She sighed; her parents would be furious! They had only looked at her with pity when they saw the injury on her cheek, but they would get angry when they would see this. They just didn’t understand that she cannot stop the bullying, no matter how many times she had explained why. The nurse in the infirmary wanted to send her home, but Lia had refused, claiming she had an exam. 

“Ok, now who wants to answer the next question?” the teacher asked, as overly cheerful as always. 

That woke everyone up. They all looked down to avoid being picked. 

“Lia!” the woman exclaimed.

Of course. The teenager removed the ice and looked at the equation on the board.

“x=2”, she answered after thinking for a moment.

“That is correct”, the teacher smiled before resuming her lecture.

As Lia wrote down the answer in her notebook, a paper airplane landed on her desk. Without looking at it, she tore it apart before sweeping it off. The bits fell on the polished floor like a rain of glitter. The look the sender shot Lia meant nothing good, but it was neatly ignored. 

Not five minutes later, the P.A. system came to life and the receptionist’s panicked voice filled all the classrooms and the hallways. 

_“This is an intruder alert”_ she said. _“Everyone please stay in your classrooms. I repeat, this is an intruder alert, please stay–”_

A scream was heard before the connection was cut. The room was deathly silent as its occupants were frozen in shock and terror. They only sprung to life when the power was suddenly cut. The teacher threw her things on the floor and moved her desk in front of the door with the help of a student to prevent anyone – or any _thing_ – from entering. The others hid beneath their desks, leaned against the walls or simply sat at their places, frozen in fear. Faint clanking sounds, as if someone was hitting the floor with the metallic lid of a trashcan, were heard from the hallway, growing louder and louder by each agonizingly slow second. They were accompanied by loud bangs as doors were torn down, immediately followed by shrieks. No one inside Lia’s classroom dared to move a single muscle and students and teacher alike hold their breath as shadows cast by two feet became visible through the small gap between the floor and the door as their owner stopped in front of it. 

Everyone jumped, some of them hitting their heads on the desk they were hiding underneath, as the heavy wooden door got knocked down, breaking the desk placed in front of it in the process. The twenty-six faces inside paled identically as they took in the horrifying sight in front of them. A metal man was standing right in the damaged entryway, blankly staring back at them. It was roughly two meters tall with shiny silver body parts. Dark gray wires were exposed at the waist and joints. Slim, angular handlebars completed its head and upper arms and legs and a circular plate occupied the center of its chest. Its eyes were black and devoid of any emotion. 

The teacher swallowed with great difficulty. 

“W-who or what are you?” she squeaked in a high voice that would have been funny in any other situation. 

The metal man turned its head towards her.

_“We are the Cybermen”_ , it droned, a blue light flashing from the slit its mouth was.

Lia, who had stayed in her seat, looked at the newly-identified Cyberman with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity. What were they doing here? Were they like those robots she remembered seeing in a graphic novel who were tearing down a city and killing all these innocent people? It’s true that they looked similar… 

_“Our sensors report you are compatible”_ , the cyborg continued, looking at Lia and her classmates. 

Was it her or did it seem to do a double take when it looked at her? A warm, trickling sensation made her realize her nose had started bleeding again. She promptly took a tissue from her bag and pressed it against her nose. 

_“Do not fear”_ , it pursued. _“We will remove your fear from you. You will be taken to be upgraded. You will become the future of mankind.”_

_‘Remove your fear?’_ , Lia thought. _‘Do they remove other emotions too?’_

She silently pondered over the Cyberman’s words. Just this noon, she swore she would find a way to stop feeling emotions if the aggression towards her continued but now that a chance had presented itself, she found herself regretting her words. She only wanted to stop her suffering… but did she really have a choice now? The chances of getting out of this building alive were almost non-existent…

“W-what happens if we refuse?” a boy stammered. “I-I don’t want to b-be upgraded…”

The Cyberman turned towards him. 

_“Then you are rogue elements”_ , it said. 

“And w-what does that mean?” a girl whimpered, a heavy feeling of dread washing over her.

_“You will be deleted.”_

As soon as the sentence was uttered, the Cyberman raised its right arm and pointed it at the trembling boy who had spoken first. The others screamed and scrambled away as a blaster extended from the metallic forearm. 

“STOP!” 

Lia didn’t realize she was the one who cried out until she saw her classmates and teacher staring at her in shock. She glanced around, biting her lip and stood up on shaky legs, knowing that there was no turning back now. The Cyberman stared at her, but didn’t lower its arm. The teenager took a deep breath and glared at the empty eyes, trying to hide her terror but failing miserably. 

“Don’t kill him”, she spoke with a surprisingly steady voice. “Please. Take me instead. I volunteer to be upgraded.” 

An icy chill rolled down on her spine at her own words. The Cyberman finally lowered its weapon and fully turned towards the teenager. 

_“You are in pain”_ , it stated simply. 

Lia glanced down at the discarded tissue and shrugged.

“Yeah”, she sighed. “But I got used to it. My life is not the best you could wish for anyways.”

She let out a nervous chuckle and passed a shaking hand through her hair. 

_“We can remove pain forever”_ , the fearsome cyborg said.

Lia winced. This was her decision that would seal her fate. She raised her head and her green eyes met the Cyberman’s empty black ones. 

“Then please do so”, she declared, her tone emotionless. 

Someone sucked in a breath beside her. The young girl payed no attention to it. Instead, she took a step towards the Cyberman who instantly closed its left hand around her right upper arm. 

“LIA, NO!” 

Lia’s head swiveled to glare at Lili, who was watching her with wide eyes. 

“Please don’t do this!” she pleaded. 

Lia just glared for another second before letting herself be dragged out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand enter the Cybermen... DUN DUN DUN!! I used the design we saw in the episode _A Good Man Goes To War_ , so they look like the Cybus Cybermen, only without the "C" carved on their chest plates.


End file.
